First Look: Nightforce ATACR F1 7-35x56mm

Early in November, Nightforce was kind enough to invite us to CORE Shooting Solutions in Baker, FL. to check out some of their new products. There was an update to the SHV 5-20×56 elevation turret, a new reticle (Mil-C) and a slick new Nightforce branded Carbon Fiber Tripod. Those were interesting, but the star of the show was the new ATACR F1 7-35x56mm.

We have had a considerable amount of time behind the ATACR F1 5-25x56mm on the Ruger Precision Rifle. It is a solid scope with some great features. It is intuitive and reliable. In this update to the ATACR F1, Nightforce kept everything we liked, and just cranked the knob up to 11.

Our time at CORE was spent shooting the new ATACR F1 in “PRS Style” stages. I can tell you that if you like big magnification, this scope is for you.

The new ATACR F1 features a 7-35x magnification range. At first, this doesn’t seem like a big deal. We have used other first focal plane scopes with 30x magnification. Usually when we start getting that high in the magnification range, the clarity of the sight picture begins to degrade. Things get a little “milky”. This reduces the desire to use the scope at maximum magnification. The ATACR F1 kept a pleasing sight picture all the way to 35x.

Clarity is but a small piece of the puzzle. The 7-35x ATACR F1 is claimed to retain 95% of the field of view of the 5-25x. With approximately 3″ of eye relief, it was easy to get comfortable behind the scopes even with a wide range of shooters rotating through.

Often with high magnification range scopes, parallax adjustment suffers. The ATACR F1 retains a side-focus adjustment that allows for parallax adjustment as close as 10 meters. This is very useful for law enforcement shooters who may find themselves across the street from a target.

The overall dimensions of the new ATACR F1 do not seem to have changed significantly from the 5-25x. In fact, when picking up the test rifles, it was often hard to make sure you were grabbing the 7-35x instead of the 5-25x.

Initially the ATACR F1 7-35x56mm will be offered with the Mil-R, MOAR, and TReMoR3 reticles. More reticle choices will follow.

Some will argue the “need” for higher magnification for competition or ELR shooting. The reality is that if you have a 35x rifle scope, you can always dial the power down to 25x. It’s impossible to dial a 25x scope up to 35x. I don’t expect many shooters to trade in their 5-25x ATACR F1 or BEAST for the 7-35x, but if you are going to purchase the ATACR F1 for competition, the 7-35x would be my suggestion.

Nightforce expects to have the scope on retailer’s shelves in January, 2017. Prices for the Mil-R and MOAR version will be $3600. The Horus version will be $4000.